Malden Puts City Hall Up for Sale

By Mark Ouellette

The city recently put Malden Government Center, commonly referred to as City Hall, up for sale with the hopes of a developer demolishing it and building anew at the Pleasant Street site in the downtown area.

Mayor Gary Christenson told Malden Patch there there are several reasons why the city issued a request for proposal (RFP) on Aug. 14 for the 2.19 acre parcel located across from the MBTA Orange Line.

"It's considered the major impediment to revitalizing the downtown because it's directly in the middle of Pleasant Street as you enter Malden Square," the mayor said about Government Center, adding that the building is about 125,000 square feet when the city realistically only needs 25,000 to 30,000 square feet to operate out of. "The building needs $10-12 million in repairs. It needs a new roof, it needs new windows, it needs new utilities and when you put all those factors together I think it makes sense for us to try and get out from where we are."

The city sent out more than 50 letters to developers in the Greater Boston area to garner interest in the redevelopment of this transit-oriented development site, according to a city press statement. The deadline for developers to submit a RFP is 11 a.m. on Oct. 11

The ultimate goal is for a developer to demolish City Hall, erected in 1975, and reconnect Pleasant Street to the downtown area, according to Christenson. 

"One of the things that we are looking for is not so much what the property could garner in terms of dollars, but we're looking for something innovative and creative to end up there," Christenson said. "Some type of mixed-use, potentially a hotel, possibly a movie theater, some open space. We want this to be the beacon that it should be in downtown Malden."

"The effort to seek proposals from interested developers is due in large part to the continued demand for market rate housing in Malden, particularly because of its convenient access to public transportation," the statement adds. "The continued interest and growth of smaller service-oriented retail establishments in the downtown area was also a main consideration. Additionally, area businesses have long expressed a desire for a high-quality hotel in a convenient location north of Boston."

Now that the city has issued an RFP seeking redevelopment of the City Hall site, the mayor said the next step in process will likely be to issue another RFP to see where City Hall will operate in the future.

"We're going to submit a RFP for where City Hall could go on privately-owned land, as well as what it would cost to relocate us to the one municipally-owned parcel that could accommodate City Hall," Christenson said. "Then, we'll compare and contrast and act accordingly."

If the city receives a proposal on Oct. 11 that was "so enticing" and the developer wanted to move forward quickly, Christenson said he would suggest temporarily leasing a City Hall space until it's determined where the city wants to operate from long term. One possible location could be the Bank of America building on Exchange Street, he added.

As far as the downtown revitalization is concerned, Christenson said the city is currently working to renovate the lower half of Pleasant Street and anticipates the project being finished by October. Thanks to millions of dollars in federal funding secured by then-Congressman Edward Markey, the city has been able to complete a variety of downtown revitalization projects, including installing period lighting, repairing sidewalks, landscape work and setting up a rain garden at Pleasant Street. 

"The mayor’s office, working with the Malden Restaurant Association, is undertaking a marketing campaign called: 'Dine in Malden, Taste the World,'" reads the statement.

The Malden Redevelopment Authority is administering the RFP process for and on behalf of the City, reads the statement. For more information, contact Assistant Executive Director Deborah Burke by calling 781-324-5720 or emailing dburke@maldenredevelopment.com.